Synergy
by Kikyo190
Summary: "You are useful. Now your usefulness will be at our disposal. Or do you want to see your teammates die?" In order to make ends meet, an unlikely bargain strikes off between a desperate Hyuuga heiress and the most feared criminal organisation in the Ninja World—the Akatsuki. Hinata-Centric. Hinata x Akatsuki.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

Chapter One

Kikyo190

"Isn't Naruto meant to be returning to the Leaf village today? With the Uchiha?"

The pleasant question concerning Naruto and Sasuke's return was left hanging in the air between the three members of Team Eight.

They had just completed an A-Rank mission—their first mission together as a team in weeks—and were camping on the outskirts of the Hidden Stone village. The sky was a bruised red colour, like the dying embers of their campfire. The meal Hinata had cooked for her team, since Kiba and Shino favoured the Hyuuga heiress' heavenly cooking to their own, had been devoured so that there was nothing left but the scent of mint-leaf rabbit stew on their breath and the scattered remains of rabbit bones on the cluttered ground.

"Who would've thought that the knucklehead would finally bring back that stubborn Uchiha?" Asked Kiba, a wolfish smile on his face and his eyes full of fatigue; he'd done most of the fighting during their mission, insisting that there was no need to balance the fighting between everyone if he used his new technique.

"Sasuke won't want to stay in his home village... He may leave again." Shino contemplated. "Maybe it's best to just see how this works out."

Hinata bobbed her head in agreement. She didn't really have a proper opinion of the youngest surviving Uchiha except the general impression everyone had of him. She had never spoken to him during her childhood.

Whenever his name popped up, Hinata couldn't help but be plagued by the idea that Sasuke's regrettable past had left no room for him to have a proper personality of his own. Constantly centred on thoughts of avenging his Clan and of murdering his brother in cold blood had left him only seeing the world in black and white.

The humid summer air filled Hinata's nostrils and the tendrils of smoke rising from the embers of their fire danced with the wind.

Silence engulfed Team Eight as they recuperated in the forest clearing.

Hinata abruptly got a bad feeling. Their guard was down and they had just completed an A-Rank mission. Anything could still happen to them if they weren't careful...

"Why don't we try to cover a little more distance until night properly surfaces?"

"We're all exhausted, Hinata. We're just taking a well deserved break." Kiba replied, yawning.

Even Shino wasn't objecting; the bug specialist was sprawled against a tree trunk and looked ready to pass out. The tracing and tracking poor Shino had to do all day had finally taken its toll on him.

Admittedly, Hinata herself felt like she could drop into a deep slumber any moment now. However, every muscle in her body was tensed as if a predator watched them right at this moment.

Before her mind had any time to process the mysterious _swoosh-ing_ noise which had suddenly filled their ears in the forest clearing, small clay birds peppered the lush grass at their feet.

Byakugan activating by itself, Hinata heard herself yelling at the top of her lungs. "They're bombs!"

Shino had already jumped to his feet and formed a shield of bugs around them.

"I knew I should'da brought Akamaru with us—he'd have been able to sniff out these enemies a mile away!" Kiba snarled, looking from left to right and holding out a kunai to his chest.

They couldn't see anything from within Shino's ultimate defence. However they all heard the distinctive _thud_ of a heavy entity landing close by, followed by sadistic laughter.

"Hiding behind a beacon of bugs won't save you from my art!" Came a loud male's voice. "I have orders to eliminate anyone who gets in my way, and I deem you three Leaf shinobi nuisances."

Hinata's body stiffened even before he screeched, "Blast!"

 _BOOOOOOOOOOOM!_

The earth around them ripped apart in massive chunks as if a gigantic hand had cleaved it out. A sound unlike any other roared in her ears as Hinata lost her sense of direction, vision and hearing.

An indefinite period of time passed—perhaps seconds, minutes, hours or days later, Hinata came back to. Hunched on the ground in front of her was Shino's body, and next to his was Kiba's. Noticing the hundreds of lifeless Kikaichu bugs scattered around them, Hinata realised that Shino's ultimate defence had failed and her heartbeat skyrocketed.

"K-Kiba... Shino... Are you alright?" She whispered, making her way over to them quickly. Her right leg was likely to be broken—the explosion of the small clay birds had knocked the Hyuuga heiress off of her feet—but she wanted to check if her teammates were alright first.

Green chakra flared at her fingertips in preparation for a medical ninjutsu when a brittle voice stopped her short.

"Looks like your "art" isn't good enough if it can't finish them off."

Hinata looked up and gasped. A cumbersome form emerged from behind the cluster of trees in front of her. Startlingly fast, a long, mechanical, scorpion-like tail was pointed in her face, the pointy tip oozing a purple substance which was undoubtedly toxic. A man's masked face loomed behind it, sunken, lifeless, beady eyes watching her for her reaction. Whatever this person—this _thing_ —was, clearly would not hesitate to end her life.

"Sasori, just _shut up_ , yeah. I wasn't expecting that boy's bug shield, or whatever it was, to be so tough, yeah?"

The man's head moved minutely, almost _mechanically_ , to the sound of his partner's voice. His apathetic expression shifted to one of disapproval.

"Heal." Instructed Sasori.

It took Hinata a moment to fathom that he was addressing _her_ , and that he _wanted_ her to heal her teammates.

Hinata didn't even have to think. Placing her hand, still aflame with green healing chakra, above the nasty gnash on Shino's temple, Hinata watched and waited as the wound—imperceptibly at first—started to knit back together.

Within minutes the injury vanished completely. Deidara walked the short distance it took to her side and leaned over to inspect Hinata's healing skills. He chuckled in admiration.

Tentatively raising her eyes to meet Sasori, who was now wearing a carefully blank expression on his gauzy face, Hinata gestured to Kiba, who was still bleeding from an injury to his torso.

What did they have to gain from this? Hinata couldn't help but get a bad feeling. But what else could she do? She couldn't live with herself if she left her teammates to die from their wounds, could she?

"You may proceed." Said Sasori shortly. A minuscule smile had formed on his pasty face which sent eerie shivers running down the Hyuuga heiress' spine.

As she tended to Kiba's wounds, the two Akatsuki members trudged away to an obscure part of the forest clearing. Hushed, animated voices filled the evening air.

As they discussed whatever it was concerning them, Hinata considered escaping. She could try to find help. She could go back to the Leaf village and inform them of the situation so that they could bring reinforcements.

But then again, it was unlikely that she would even reach the Leaf village before they noticed that she'd gone and hunted her down. The Hidden Leaf village was more than twenty miles away from here. She would never make it. Hinata and her team had never had an encounter with the Akatsuki before. They were lucky to still be alive.

 _I hope to keep it that way_...

"What's your name?"

Hinata turned with a start. It was creepy Sasori again, watching her every move with calculating, beady eyes.

 _No, I can't escape,_ Hinata thought. _But what exactly do they want?_

"H... Hyuuga Hinata." She said at last, looking at the ground like a petrified little child. She despised herself... even now in times of trouble, she acted like a weakling.

Deidara chuckled knowingly at her display of timidity. Sasori's tepid eyes narrowed further: he'd picked up on Hinata's feelings of self-doubt and uselessness.

He spoke. "You are useful. Now your usefulness will be at our disposal. Or do you want to see your teammates die?"

Hinata suddenly noticed the two explosive clay hawks hovering over each of her teammate's faces, almost innocently.

"No!" Hinata shouted. Then she lowered her gaze to the ground and repeated, much quieter than the first time but still firmly, "No, I don't."

"Good. We have a deal then. Now you shall serve a new purpose. Having a healer in our ranks will aid our organisation's cause. Perhaps, if you show potential in other expertise, your usefulness can be expended elsewhere."

Deidara scoffed impatiently.

"Well, are you done here? Let's go, yeah."

Deidara and Sasori turned to leave. Hinata knew she had to follow them or else innocent people would die. Taking her last anguished glance at her teammates, until she couldn't bear it anymore...

... Hinata left without them.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sasuke trudged along, side-by-side Naruto. The dobe. The idiot. The dead-last.

How could _he_ , a genjutsu specialist and Sharingan user, lose to an opponent with so many negative, degrading and mortifying titles on his side?

Aside from the obvious grating feelings of shame brought on by losing to _anyone_ , Sasuke grudgingly couldn't deny the tiny flame of respect Naruto had inspired with his victory.

 _So, you beat me in the end, didn't you, Naruto?_ Sasuke thought, not even so much as glancing at Naruto, who was briskly keeping pace and hadn't said a single word in the last few minutes.

Sasuke's obsidian orbs flared with darkness. _I can never let that happen again._

"For the meantime, Naruto, I'll stay in the Leaf village." Sasuke stated aloud, out-of-the-blue.

They both stopped walking. They'd arrived outside the village gates.

Naruto grinned at his mysterious childhood friend, unable to hide the uneasiness in his tone. "What exactly does _that_ mean, teme?"

Sasuke ignored him.

 _I'll bide my time. Until then..._

The moon shone high above his and Naruto's head's like a spotlight or perhaps as a _testimony_ to this day: the day of the youngest surviving Uchiha's return to the Leaf village.

 _How stupid are they to let me back in so welcomingly_? Sasuke thought darkly. _They can't claim to know me after these past three years, can they?_

With that chilling thought in mind, Sasuke noticed a thin silhouette dancing its way rapidly towards them over the pristine rooftops.

"Whoa! Wait a minute! Is that _you_ , Sasuke?" Hollered the unmistakable female voice of Ino Yamanaka. She landed above them on a billowy platform and peered down at Sasuke intently.

"What?" He asked harshly.

Ino wiped the sweat from her brow and averted her gaze away from him crossly, not that Sasuke cared—in fact, he _preferred_ it that way.

"Whatever. Well, there's bad news, Naruto. Team Eight were dispatched for an A-Rank mission earlier this day," The blonde-haired kunoichi began.

"What happened?" Naruto prompted, suddenly alert and his whole body tensing apprehensively for details on the situation.

"Only Kiba and Shino were rescued, uninjured but unconscious. We think they were healed by someone."

A pause. Naruto furrowed his eyebrows confusedly. "What about Hinata?"

Ino lowered her gaze. Sasuke was suddenly attentive, sensing the bad news.

"Well, that's the problem. We can't find her. She's believed to be nowhere in the area."

Ino held out a thin object which Sasuke hadn't realised she'd been holding the whole time.

It was the standard Leaf Headband; however, it had a messy slash through the leaf symbol. Drawn over it was a single cloud.

"We think Hinata may have joined the Akatsuki."

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	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

Chapter Two

Kikyo190

"Today, we welcome a new member into our ranks." Announced Pain, his solemn voice reverberating eerily against the subterranean walls of the underground meeting room. His virtual hologram crackled like a ghastly apparition, sending tremors down Hinata's spine and jolts through her prickly skin.

Was this the leader of the infamous Akatsuki? Although Hinata couldn't see his face properly through his blurry hologram, she could sense the unspeakable extent to his power and the effects his barely tangible presence had on his members.

His swirling gaze pierced through her, remembering every detail of her petrified face as he finally closed his eyes. "Take your ring, Hinata of the Leaf Village. And do not disappoint us."

At that moment, the hologram abruptly cut off. The seven members of the Akatsuki directed their curious, hungry and hardened gazes onto the only outsider in the room.

Pain's last words were still ringing in Hinata's ears agonisingly as she realised that she would face death if she did not cooperate with them. She tried not to freak out, but didn't they know that her existence was a disappointment in itself? How could she hope to use her mediocre skills to help them, when they were already such a formidable force to reckon with?

All Hinata could think to do was tremble quietly as Deidara and Sasori stood on either side of her, gazing solemnly at the rest of the Akatsuki members as if meeting them for the first time in years.

"She's going to be the best thing that ever happened to our organisation, yeah!" Deidara said proudly, wrapping his arm around Hinata's shoulder. She tried not to panic in his suffocating lock on her, or believe his insane words.

Sasori remained silent as ever, his prickly gaze unmoving, only piercing anyone who happened to glance in his direction out of line.

Deidara piped up enthusiastically again, "Listen here, everyone—she's the real deal! I'm telling you… Hyuuga girl here is an exceptional healer, yeah. Take your ring, Hinata."

In ordinary situations, she would've been grateful for receiving such uplifting praise. However, if possible, Hinata's heartbeat quickened to a hysterical rate as she dared not look at any of the murderous, dark, heavy, judgemental eyes watching her. She felt like she was naked, exposed, almost like a lamb to the slaughter: it was only a matter of time…

As she shakily brought out her hand, blindly obeying Deidara's command without considering the consequences, allowing her fingertips to linger over the ring attached to a severed finger raised on a stone plaque, a voice stopped her dead in her tracks.

"A Hyuuga…. you say?"

Every head turned to the darkest corner of the room, where a figure stepped forward into the glaring torchlight. It was a man who was imprisoned inside a Venus flytrap. One half of his body was pale, and the other half was dark. His piercing serpentine eyes made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end uneasily, as he spoke chillingly once again.

"But you're not just any old Hyuuga… are you? Aren't you their Heiress… _Hyuuga Hinata_?"

Hinata's heart quivered at his confrontation. Deidara and Sasori, unsurprisingly, didn't offer her any indication as to what she should do.

"Y-Yes." Hinata stammered.

Zetsu's eyes flashed as if she had said or done something wrong and in that terrifying moment, Hinata's heart stopped.

"This is just great… new friends!" Piped up an exuberantly dressed member, with an orange swirly mask covering his face. He jumped forward, so fast she swore he must have used a teleportation technique, and clasped Hinata's hand, shaking it up and down hurriedly. "My name is Tobi! That's T-O-B-I!"

"We'll use her ex-heiress status as an example of how evil can corrupt even the Leaf's most prestigious Clan!" The man, who was enclosed in a Venus-flytrap, enthused.

At that moment, Hinata didn't feel like a human being anymore—instead she felt like a tool, a means of negotiation… an unlikely asset?

At that moment, she noticed someone who had been standing there, assessing her silently the whole time. His killer persona coldly radiated off of him threateningly, and his steely obsidian eyes were coloured crimson with twisting dark tomoe.

"Take your ring, Hinata." Itachi said calmly.

Gulping, she looked down at the ring on the severed finger but she couldn't bring herself to touch it. As if sensing her predicament, Sasori, the last person on the planet she ever thought would come to her aid, saved her.

"My patience is already wearing thin and I'm sick of this place. Let's go, Hinata." He grumbled.

With that, Sasori used his chakra string ability to attach onto the ring and pulled it roughly off the dead finger, slipping it under his bulky cloak for Hinata to wear later.

"Hey, Hinata! Show us your Byakugan!" Tobi hollered after her, to which Deidara clocked him round the head. "OW! OW! Tobi is a good boy! That hurt!"

Minutes later, after gladly following Sasori out of the suffocating room, they passed through endless subterranean corridors, all lit up by torchlight. Hinata didn't think she'd ever find her way around the confusing place.

All of a sudden, they were standing in front of a door which was alongside many other doors. Except, where the others had perhaps one or two seals on the doorframe, this door seemed to have thousands.

"Release." Sasori mumbled under his breath sharply, simultaneously manoeuvring his hands beneath his cumbersome form. Immediately, the jigsaw pieces of deathly black characters and seals unwound into a straight line.

"Why is your room so heavily protected?" Hinata blurted out, without thinking. As soon as she said those words, she regretted asking—did she _really_ want to know why his room was impossible for anyone else to get inside?

"You don't seem to realise how lucky you are. Every square inch of my room is laced with booby traps, making it the safest room in this hideout. And you'll be staying with me here."

Her body froze at his words.

Lifeless, sunken, beady eyes scrutinised her for a long moment. Unbidden to Hinata, Sasori flicked his hand underneath his disguise, attaching a chakra string onto her back and forcing her forwards, into the room.

Sasori's mechanical tail swished forward, as fast as lightening, closing the door behind them.

"Say nothing." He said scratchily, eyes narrowed. "You're still our hostage."

Trembling at his harsh, truthful and frightening words, Hinata looked around uneasily at the place she would soon learn to call "home".

Attached to most of the walls in Sasori's room were inanimate puppets; most of them looked like they were in the middle of being constructed. Some of them seemed like ordinary puppets but others had razors sticking out of their necks or poisonous needles protruding from their teeth.

A metallic sound broke Hinata out of her thoughts as she turned her gaze towards Sasori.

His bulky form suddenly shuddered, and the mechanical tail went slack as he shrugged himself out of his cumbersome disguise. The sunken mask slid from his face and he carelessly let his attire fall to the ground.

Standing in the pile of mass armour was a young man with wavy crimson hair and manipulative stormy grey eyes. Hinata sucked in her breath in shock at the sudden transformation.

Looking pointedly at the mass on the floor, he explained, "That's my puppet Hiruko, a disguise I use which also acts as my armour."

Sasori still had control over Hinata as he gave his hand an elegant swish, forcing her to look up at him and not at his feet. He tilted his head to the side.

"Consider it an honour that I'm letting you see my true form. The only other member to have seen me like this is Deidara."

With that, Sasori closed his eyes boredly and turned around, giving his hand another wave. Instantly, Hinata's body was released from his control and she collapsed in the middle of the room weakly.

Sasori glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "You haven't slept or eaten in the past three days of our journey here. Rest on my bed for a while. In fact, I never sleep anyway so it's all yours. I have work to do now."

The young man disappeared through the chamber adjourning his room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Hinata gazed hopelessly at his neatly made bed on the other side of the room. She didn't know what to do anymore. Would there be any use in resisting sleep? For what purpose? To think of ways to escape?

As she dragged herself to the bed and plumped herself down, Hinata tried not to laugh sarcastically at the idea.

Escape?

She gazed at Sasori's bedside table. On it was a lit candle, with a box of matchsticks on the other side. Abruptly, Hinata noticed that Sasori must have put her initiation ring on the table as he passed it, before disappearing mysteriously into his chamber.

It stared back at her earnestly. Like it was demanding her to wear it. Now that it was no longer attached to the severed finger of whoever its previous owner had been, who was imaginably now deceased, it looked less daunting.

Hinata squeezed her eyes shut. Wondering why Itachi and Deidara had been anxious for her to wear it, whereas Sasori seemed to not care at all. That wasn't much of a surprise.

He didn't seem to care about anything.

But would she be punished for not wearing the ring? And the leader of the Akatsuki, Pain, had been ever so bloodcurdling, even as just a hologram….

There was no escape from this place.

If ever Hinata imagined Sasori would actually be human, she never thought he would be as sophisticated and graceful as he was now, undisguised by his mass puppet Hiruko. He was still a frightening aura, but now the terror that was Sasori had more to do with his manipulative and unpredictable way of thinking than the secrets he hid.

The ring.

The Akatsuki.

At that moment, the door to Sasori's chamber reopened. Sasori strode out, holding a sharp blade in his hand nonchalantly. How much time had passed in this prison without windows to see out of? Minutes? Hours? Days? Weeks?

"I'm just going to see an old client. My room is indeed heavily booby trapped, so don't worry, you'll be safe here. At least I'm letting you stay with me rather than Deidara—he's constantly blowing up his room like a maniac." Sasori stated carelessly, letting his comment sink in.

Using his chakra string manipulation, he reassembled into his Hiruko disguise. As Sasori disappeared through the door, something weird happened. A paper aeroplane stealthily slid past him, and whether he was aware of it or not, he showed no indication, banging the door shut behind him and redoing the sealing jutsu.

Without warning, the paper aeroplane split apart into tiny fragments, steadily multiplying until it formed a life-sized angel made out of paper.

Hinata didn't remember seeing her in the meeting room earlier at her initiation ceremony.

"W-Who… are you?" Hinata squeaked, activating Byakugan and sitting up in Sasori's bed defensively.

"You need to change your clothes… to look more suited for your role here as a member of the Akatsuki." The lady with blue hair stated bluntly.

Konan threw forward her paper origami and the tiny fragments of paper morphed into a flying carpet, which unravelled to reveal a brand new Akatsuki cloak and other pieces of clothing to go underneath.

"You may feel uncomfortable with the weight of the cloak at first, but with time and strength training, you will soon barely feel its burden. Therefore, I designed the clothes you will be wearing underneath the cloak to be as lightweight and free as possible. I don't care if you don't like the style—but if I were you, I would be thankful."

"Y-Yes, thank you, Akatsuki-san." Muttered back Hinata, quiet, certain this lady would literally tear her to shreds if she so much as voiced any disapproval.

"Don't call me that. Call me my name instead. Konan." As she said this, she turned for the door, performing multiple hand seals, and transformed into a single slip of paper, sliding out through a thin crack in the door silently, barely noticeable, like a ghost.

Gulping down on her dread at how easily Sasori's "impenetrable" room had been infiltrated so easily and scarily by that emotionless lady, Konan, she looked at the bundle of clothes awaiting her on the ground.

The signature Akatsuki cloak, deathly black and blood red clouds.

Underneath was a fishnet tank-top and a short black skirt.

Hinata had never worn so little in her life before.

She felt like she was back in the Leaf village again, a shy weak little girl.

No. She was with the Akatsuki now.

Gone were the days she would be called a weakling, and chastised for her incapability. She would become stronger, and she would show them all.

Hinata would prove herself to them.

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* * *

 **A/N:** How was this chapter, everyone? It's just a little taster of what it will be like for Hinata as she stays with the Akatsuki—I'll develop deeper interactions and relations between the other Akatsuki members and Hinata in later chapters!

Also, if you have any suggestions or ideas for the sort of things you'd like to see in this Hinata x Akatsuki centric, please let me know!

As of now, I haven't decided on who Hinata's love interest(s) will be or who she will end up with, so there's a poll on my profile where you can start voting now! I'll take everyone's choices into consideration! :D ^^

The story is still in its early stages! I hope you all enjoyed!


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